Chapter Text
It was turning out to be a relatively slow night at the station, and Elisa found herself sitting at her desk with nothing to do. Not even paperwork, which was odd in itself. She decided to enjoy the moment with her booted feet propped up on her desk and a steaming cup of coffee in her hands.
The only thing different on this night, was that she was sharing her space with Brooklyn. The clan had been called out early on a few calls, but Brooklyn had returned a short while ago. He had done a quick patrol over the island, but with that completed, he had returned to the station to wait for another call. Currently, he was sitting on one of the heavy duty industrial steel chairs that the precinct had sprung for in order to accommodate the clan. He had slid down a bit, his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes closed as if resting.
It had only been a few months since the Gargoyles had been inducted into the NYPD, and already they had made a name for themselves. Helping with everything from fires, to car accidents, and even assisting officers with a few robberies in progress.
It helped that there was no hesitation on the Gargoyles side. If someone called, they hurried to help, no matter the situation or the organization. NYPD, NYFD, Port Authority… it didn’t matter.
While there was still a few people in each organization that hesitated to call when they should, most of those involved within the rescue services in Manhattan were growing more and more comfortable with the clan around.
Especially around the 23 rd precinct they all joked. It was assumed it was because the clan had trained with Elisa and Matt was the head of the task force, so they felt the most comfortable there. There were a small handful of people who knew the truth, but they weren’t talking.
There was an odd lull in the city tonight, and despite the busy beginning, the calls had all but stopped around midnight. As a result, one by one, the clan was trickling in. Lex had taken to hanging around with the cybercrimes unit guys to “talk shop”, and he was there now.
Matt, sitting at his desk, was busy leafing through a few of their cold cases with Broadway, in case something jumped out at them.
The only members of the clan missing were Angela, Hudson and Goliath, all of which had been called out to help with a suspected robbery in progress. From the report she’d heard a bit ago, it had been a false alarm, and the Gargoyles had been released to enjoy their evening.
Hudson and Angela would head back to the castle, she knew. Hudson to relax in front of his “programs”, and Angela to take over the care of her twin children. Goliath would probably head to the station for now, then meet up with her at the castle before sunrise.
“This is still weird,” Brooklyn admitted, breaking in to Elisa’s thoughts. Elisa looked over to find his gaze roaming around the room. “Cool… but weird.”
Elisa gave him a smile, “What? You being an officer, or you being in a room of humans?”
“Uh,” Brooklyn scratched the top of his head in a nervous gesture, “Both?”
“Fair enough,” Elisa said with a soft laugh, lifting the large white Styrofoam cup filled with coffee to her lips.
“How much of that stuff do you drink?” Brooklyn asked, his face creasing in concern.
“Not enough, some nights,” Elisa muttered.
“Don’t think we haven’t noticed how tired you are,” Brooklyn whispered.
“I’m fine, Brooklyn,” Elisa answered in a matching quiet tone. “I’m used to working a little extra.”
“Yeah, but…” Brooklyn began, only to be cut off as the smallest clan member joined them.
“Hey, Elisa. Matt,” Lexington greeted, hopping up into the one empty chair between Elisa and Matt’s desk. “It’s kinda quiet tonight.”
Elisa paused, her cup an inch from her mouth as she widened her eyes at Lexington. Mat swung around in his chair, and all other officers within earshot visibly cringed.
“What?” Lexington asked, clearly confused.
“Please,” Officer Morgan said, still staring in Lexington’s direction. “Please tell me he did not just use the “Q” word in the station.”
Elisa raised the cup fully to her lips. “He did,” Elisa acknowledged, “But he’s still a newbie, who hasn’t learned yet.”
“Learned what?” Brooklyn asked, sitting up fully in his chair. “What’s up?”
Suddenly, the quiet was broken by the sound of a telephone ringing.
“Lexington just cursed us,” Officer Green sighed loud and over-dramatically, as she passed by on her way back to the dispatching station to answer the telephones.
“You never use the “Q” word, Lex,” Matt said with a small smile.
“Especially around a bunch of superstitious cops,” Elisa said, grinning at Lexington’s sheepish face. “Hey, don’t worry about it. We all had a nice break, and now it’s back to work.”
She felt bad for the inevitable ribbing that he was probably going to get from everyone, but grateful to have Brooklyn’s attention shift from her. She’d been pulling double duty so much lately, ever since the Human’s First attack at the Gargoyles induction ceremony that she’d had to resort to wearing a little makeup to cover the dark circles under her eyes. She knew that Goliath suspected something was wrong, but he hadn’t broached the subject with her. She tried to at least make an appearance at the castle most nights, but as soon as the clan went to sleep for the day, she was off again.
Knowing that the anti-gargoyle group was still out there somewhere, armed to the teeth with law enforcement and military grade explosives and weaponry, was making it almost impossible to sleep. It had been getting worse lately, though…
Elisa grimaced as one by one, every phone in the precinct seemed to begin to ring at the same time.
“Whoa,” She said, her feet hitting the floor as she sat upright. She put her coffee on her desk and shared a look with Matt. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know,” Matt said slowly.
“Bluestone,” Came a familiar authoritative voice. “I need you and Maza in my office.”
Elisa and Matt hurried to their feet. Elisa shot the clan an apologetic look, then hurried in to the captain’s office.
“We have a situation,” Maria said as the partners entered the office.
“Is this a closed door type of situation?” Elisa asked.
Maria gave her a look. “You know,” She said softly, but sternly, “We haven’t had nearly as many closed-door meetings since the Gargoyles became part of the team.”
“Imagine that,” Matt said, shooting Elisa a side glance.
Elisa fought the urge to roll her eyes at the two of them. “What’s up, Cap?” She asked instead.
Maria, thankfully, accepted the change of subject and sat behind her desk. “We just got a report of an explosion at a small public meeting hall about ten minutes ago.”
“Was anyone hurt?” Elisa asked.
“Thankfully, no,” Maria said. “But it has been deemed intentional, and the responding offices have asked specifically for the two of you to come down to the scene.”
“Us?” Matt asked with a frown. “Why us?”
“I don’t have the specifics,” Maria admitted, “but I have the feeling that it is Gargoyle related, since it’s the two of you that they asked for.”
“But I’m not the head of the GTF any more,” Matt pointed out.
“I don’t think that’s the point,” Maria said. “You both are detectives and have had the most time working with them. That being said, for some reason, they are asking that the Gargoyles not be brought in to this for the time being.”
“Ooookay,” Matt said, his voice slow and hesitant.
“Gotcha,” Elisa said with a nod and a frown. “Where do we need to go?”
“Here’s the address,” Maria said, holding out a slip of paper. “The Arson Investigator in charge is named Grayson.”
Matt and Elisa walked back to their respective desks and grabbed their coats to guard against the chilly pre-dawn temperatures.
“What’s up?” Brooklyn asked in concern.
Elisa gave what she hoped was a casual shrug. “Someone firebombed an abandoned meeting hall,” She said. “Matt and I are going to check it out.”
Over Brooklyn’s head, she caught the disapproving look Matt gave her. Obviously, he didn’t agree with her keeping them in the dark, but until she knew what they were dealing with…
“Okay,” Brooklyn said, then lowered his voice. “Are you coming to the castle later?”
“I’m going to try,” Elisa promised.
Brooklyn nodded, then gave her one of his usual carefree grins. “Okay. See you around.”
Elisa gave him a nod, grabbed her keys from her desk drawer and then went to meet Matt who was already at the door to the parking lot.
To give him credit, he waited until they were in her car before asking, “Why didn’t you tell them?”
“Because we don’t know anything, Matt,” Elisa said, turning the key in the ignition and turning the heater on to warm the interior. “Not yet. We don’t know if it was aimed at the gargoyles, or just some fanatics who thought this was the best way to get attention for whatever reason.”
Matt nodded slowly. “I guess I can understand that.”
Elisa sighed. “I’m still not used to being able to openly talk about them and the issues. It’s going to take me a while to get used to that, not to mention openly talking about any threats that arise.”
“Yeah,” Matt chuckled. “Sitting at my desk tonight, carrying on conversations with Broadway, really brought that home tonight.”
“Same with me,” Elisa admitted. “Every time they walk in the door, my heart jumps into my throat.”
Matt nodded. “I can only imagine. With as panic-inducing as it is to me, it has to be harder on you. You have had to hold on to some big secrets, and for far longer than I did.”
Elisa gave him a one shoulder shrug as she began to slow the car as they neared the location. “It’s taking some getting used to, that’s for sure.” She squinted a little into the distance. “There it is.”
Matt glanced around. “How can you tell? I haven’t seen an actual building number in a while.”
Elisa gave a chuckle. “It’s up ahead. I’m starting to see lights.”
Sure enough, one block further and the strobing red and blue lights of the black and white police vehicles was evident.
Matt frowned. “Maybe I need to get my eyes checked,” he muttered. “How the hell were you able to see that?”
Elisa frowned. “I was looking for it. I stopped searching for actual addresses a few blocks back.”
Matt gave a thoughtful hum, then waved it away.
Now that they were closer, the lingering smell of smoke laced with the scent of burning wood met their noses. The firetrucks were still spewing cascades of water on the charred remains, as portions of the wreckage still glowed with lingering sections that were still hot enough to smolder.
“I wonder what this is all about, anyway,” He said.
Elisa pulled up in the rear of the police filled lot and put her car into park.
“Let’s go find out,” She said, and turned the car off.